Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
In certain environments, the production of high levels of oxygen on demand is highly desirable. For example, in hospitals and other locations where sick and elderly patients reside, for homecare oxygen therapy, in addition to aeroplane environments, systems that are able to supply highly concentrated oxygen on demand are important.
One common method of oxygen supply is in a specialised high pressure tank form. The tank form can be unduly cumbersome, requiring resupply and the storage of pure oxygen can be dangerous in some environments.
Systems have been developed to separate oxygen from the ambient air. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,990 discloses one such system. Again, this system can be cumbersome to operate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,495,025 to Velev, provides an extremely brief disclosure of an oxygen production system for producing oxygen from water by subjecting the water to electrolysis to produce H2 and O2. The system of Velev has a number of operational disadvantages including: the need to operate a separate fuel cell and electrolysis cell apparatus which is unduly cumbersome, requiring the returning of the H2 to a water storage zone and there are safety issues associated with the overall process.